The latest collection exclusively for Northcott is Wildflower. I have been a wildflower in this industry for about 15 years now! Where does the time go? Every winding road on my path has been an opportunity to learn more. I am inspired by people around me. I am intrepid in my design and it is not an accident. I design to challenge. I design to push this legacy forward. 100 years from now I want quilt historians to look at my work and the Frond way in producing fabric based on hand painted paintings, original art. Frond Design Studios started this method to the madness. The whole concept was a total accident. A collision course between an Iowa starving artist (Thank you Ray and Cottage Rose Quilt Shop) and the preconceived notions of what fabric should be.
We are inspiring all in a very traditional industry.
Now in this brand new year of 2023, Frond Design Studios has not only weathered the storms of business challenges, a pandemic, staffing issues and simply translating this style of design to give wings to those sewists and quilters frustrated by the boxed in norms this industry can sometimes chain us. Threadplay, threadpunk and quilting just by following the designs in the fabric. Draw with your machines. Through these years we have shed tears with you, encouraged you and given you permission to be you! It is OK to be different. As my mother says “You get to be you all day long!”
You will find in this blog, ramblings of the years, the process, the influences, the experiences, tears, laughs but most importantly authenticity and truth. I used to joke that Frond was painfully authentic. We are. I believe like the Red Green Show I used to watch with my babies… “We are all in this together“. I found comfort in that. I embraced that raspy voice telling me it was going to be ok. That is the way we operate at Frond. We have had to pivot time and time again but at the end of the day we are inspiring new artists to find their way. We encourage new pattern designers and sewists to step out and find their way. What is better than that? Find your voice!
My brother Tony was fortunate to receive the first three photos from a dear friend of our parents and their days out on the town with friends and family. We get to have a peek into the beautiful lives and loves that were before us and ultimately inspired us. I found myself being jealous that I could not be there with them to hear their laughter and jokes but grateful someone captured the beauty.
The last photo is my brother Marcus, me, my father’s mom, Una,(my grandmother) Tony, my brother and my mom around the time my father passed. We were bringing flowers and checking out the monument for him that still resides at Morgan Creek Park here in Cedar Rapids, IA. These are the threads that matter. These are the moments we hold each other up and call each other higher. This is the legacy.
The new Wildflower Collection lends itself to a state flower series. I am painting new flowers as we speak for your state and state of mind. 🙂 We can find that peace in the blooms before us everyday.
Sew What with Frond Design Studios 